Serena Williams romps as she begins Grand Slam bid

JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/Getty Images

Serena Williams of the US serves to Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia during their Womens Singles Round 1 match at the 2015 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on August 31, 2015.

Serena Williams of the US serves to Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia during their Womens Singles Round 1 match at the 2015 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on August 31, 2015. (JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - Introducing the person they had all come to see, the PA announcer at Arthur Ashe Stadium didn't mention the words Grand Slam, merely pointing out that in addition to being defending U.S. Open champion, Serena Williams was defending champ at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Williams isn't hiding from her historic aspirations, though. She refers to her drive for the Grand Slam as "this journey" and likes that the last stop is on American turf. "I am literally enjoying the moment," Williams said.

On a day when six seeded women's players fell, the featured match of the opening day of the 2015 U.S. Open was over basically as soon as it started. Russia's Vitalia Diatchenko, at her second Open, facing Williams for the first time, came in injured, serving flat-footed and unable to even step toward most of Serena's blazers from the other side.

After 29 minutes, it was 6-0, 2-0 when Diatchenko called for a trainer and retired. She had won just one of the previous 24 points. She had returned just one of Serena's previous 11 serves, which included six aces in a seven-serve span.

"Yeah, it was definitely different and bizarre," Williams said later, saying her practices were so intense that she wasn't worried about basically having a walkover. Then she answered questions about her T-shirt (Eat Right), practicing across from Roger Federer ("I totally look at him. He's Roger."), her viewing habits when she's holed up in her room ("endless Netflix" and also a lot of Investigation Discovery).

She was asked about her first victorious Open final in 1999, remembering how she had told herself she had to go for a particular forehand against Martina Hingis, how that one shot down the line set up her mentally - "just being brave enough to go for it. That moment really shaped my whole career."

Afterward, Diatchenko said her ankle or heel or something in her lower leg - it will be unclear until she gets a scan, she said - felt painful running sprints a half hour before the match, and the pain increased during play.

"It was so painful," she said. "I don't want to repeat any matches like this in my life."

Williams is trying to win the first Grand Slam, men or women, since Steffi Graf won the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 1988. (How long ago was that? Graf's home country was listed as West Germany.)

The only other women to do it were Margaret Court in 1970 and Maureen Connolly in 1953. Two men have done it, Rod Laver (twice, 1962 and '69) and Don Budge in 1938. Pretty small company Williams is trying to keep.

There's more history at stake here. Serena's six Open titles already tie Chris Evert for most in the Open era (since 1968), men or women. She is third all-time in women's Grand Slam titles with 21, behind Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22).

If you're still trying to decide whether to join in anointing Serena the best ever, look to her longevity. She won the first of her six Open and 21 Grand Slam titles in 1999. No women's player who won at least seven Grand Slams - the group that could even claim to be a Serena peer - has ever had such a span between her first and last. Only Serena and Helen Wills Moody (19 slams between 1923 and '38) ever led two different decades in women's Grand Slam singles titles.

"I do read numbers and I do see numbers," Williams said at her pre-tournament news conference, noting that it is hard to compare eras. "I believe in those numbers. I think, you know, different generations and different times have different champions, have different greats, have different levels of players."

Venus Williams, who rose to No. 1 ahead of her sister and won five Wimbledon and two U.S. Open titles of her own, was asked Monday, after beating Monica Puig in three sets, about the state of her younger sister's mind. Venus gave her usual reply about how they don't talk about tennis.